Fry’s pays $2.3M to settle sex text claims

In 2007, 20-year old America Rios was working in the Fry's Electronics store in Renton, Washington when she said that the store's assistant manager took a liking to her. Over the next few months, she said that the assistant manager repeatedly sent her text messages which "commented on how good she looked, offering her alcohol even though Ms. Rios was under age 21, inviting her to his home, and making references to wanting to play with Ms. Rios' breasts." She said the messages continued after she asked the man to stop.

So she went to her immediate supervisor, Mr. Ka Lam, with the problem; he alerted Fry's upper management, who put the Renton store manager in charge of the investigation. But Lam said that the store manager was personal friends with the assistant manager and that he did not even take written statements from Lam or Rios. Within a few weeks of escalating the complaint, Lam found himself fired.

The US government then got involved after Lam complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which opened an investigation and later filed a lawsuit against Fry's in 2010.

Over the course of the suit, Fry's attorneys tenaciously resisted the government's discovery attempts—perhaps too tenaciously. Things got so bad that on July 3 of this year, Judge Robert Lasnick issued a thundering order in which he said that Fry's had "spoliated evidence," including computer hard drives, that the company only turned over some relevant information after the judge ordered them to conduct "a second search," and that Fry's "intentionally" took until May 2012 to reveal that both of the Renton managers involved in the case had been the target of sexual harassment complaints. Though the judge couldn't prove it, the evidence also led him to believe that the store manager who oversaw the Rios investigation took notes on what he found—but that these had "been removed from the files where one would expect to find them.”

The judge called the behavior “unfair, unwarranted, unprincipled, and unacceptable,” and said that, on the whole, it led him to “doubt defendant's complete commitment to candor and highlighted the very real possibility that the integrity of the judicial process has been compromised."

Because the Fry's team had "deliberately engaged in deceptive practices," the judge said, he hit them with $100,000 in sanctions—$25,000 each to the court, the EEOC, Rios, and Lam. (Fry's outside attorneys apologized to the court for their "error" in not disclosing certain information and for "any other fault the Court finds," but insisted that the problems had largely been misunderstandings, not intentional deception.)

Fry's sanctions payment to the Court.

This month, the case finally dragged to its conclusion after the two sides finished presenting their case to a retired judge acting as an arbiter. Before he ruled, however, Fry's settled the claims today, admitting no wrongdoing. Ka Lam gets $1,564,000 for damages, lost wages, and attorney's fees, while Rios gets $736,000.

"This was my first job, and I just wanted the harassment to stop. It really meant a lot to have my supervisor speak out for me, and it was horrifying to see him lose his job over it," said Rios in a statement today. "I'm elated and relieved by the settlement, for Ka Lam's sake as much as for mine."

In addition, the EEOC consent decree with the company forces it to provide two hours of harassment training each year to executives and managers, and to make them "personally accountable" for enforcing Equal Employment Opportunity policies.

Finally, in Washington state, where the alleged harassment took place, the following poster must be tacked to the employee notice board at every Fry's store for the next three years.

Enlarge/ This notice will be posted in Fry's Washington stores until 2015.

"This seven-figure settlement, among the highest EEOC settlements ever on a per-claimant basis, follows court-ordered sanctions including a penalty of $100,000 due to Fry's abusive discovery tactics which included destroying relevant evidence, wrongfully withholding evidence, and filing frivolous motions," said EEOC General Counsel P. David Lopez in a statement. "The case should send a clear message that sexual harassment of vulnerable employees remains a serious problem in this country, as is employer retaliation against those who report harassment."

I worked for Fry's a long time ago (as a young fellow trying to pay for Cert Classes) and I can honestly say not that surprising. The culture at Fry's is very weird. I never felt that uncomfortable working for someone ever. Very dull and not challenging at all. It felt like drone work and everyone was your boss (I had like 6). It was Office Space...retail. They did have rules that no employee could even date each other but like other places it doesn't come into play until it causes a problem. Basically they have tons of rules...and they make sure you are breaking at least one. Cause a problem not related to the rule and they fire you for the rule being broken. Saw many get fired this way. They like other places say they are family during the hiring process. I was a bit upset by this declaration as I asked if they would ever bail me out of jail. They said no...I said you are not my family. Your my employer and let's just keep it that way. I ended up quitting (gave the standard two weeks) due the very dull and Office Space feeling. I enjoy shopping there waaaay more than working there. Would I recommend working there? No. It's just very weird and very dull with 6 bosses always reviewing you and pressing some "new" tactic that will increase sales, which isn't that surprising because it's retail. What get's old is that 6 bosses would tell you over and over for the next 2 weeks.

Giving one example of just total BS line (besides the one above). During the hiring process they stated the people at the door are there to check to make sure the customer didn't leave something at the register and was there primarily for that. Okay ...this is just crap and they knew it. I talked to the person who said this after the "class" and stated "You know you just insulted the intelligence of everyone in the room. It would just be easier stating that you care about losing money and that lost money is something everyone employed should worry about".

This is my local Fry's. Both because of that, and because I work in the legal department of another retailer, I've been watching this case. Simply put: Good, and fuck Fry's.

Fry's, without a doubt, purposefully destroyed evidence, and purposefully withheld information that there had been a pattern of sexual harassment at that store. I don't know if that happened at the store level, the HR department level, or God forbid, within the Legal department itself, but doing something like that rightfully causes a judge to nail you to the wall. I'm glad they got both the fine for doing it, and decided to settle. Although it's always annoying when they settle and get to admit to no wrongdoing. I would really hope that they cleaned house at the store management level, and fired anyone responsible for the "oops, we deleted vital evidence and didn't report other evidence" incident.

I haven't been in that store for maybe 5 years. Ever since I tried to buy a camcorder, but sat in the middle of the camera section by myself while the teenage staff chatted amongst themselves around the perimeter for 5 minutes. At least they used to have good prices. But a 5 minute Google search finds me a bunch of other places offering a better price. And with this sort of an incident on their record now, I've got no desire to ever step foot in there again.

I've been shopping at Fry's since perhaps 1988 (though much less so in the last decade). Even as a merely observant customer it was apparent that Fry's had an extremely unpleasant and oppressive corporate regime. This should not be news to any observant frequent visitor. You could not have persuaded me to work there at any time, and there were times when it could have been at least a useful stopgap job.

I should be a judge. I'd get fired, fast, but it would be interesting in the mean time.

"Can you get the documents to the court in 6 weeks? Yes? OK, understand that if I don't have the documents in my hand on or before that day, or a damned good reason 48 hours beforehand, I'm going to declare against you."

"Oh, you weren't at fault, and your lawyers are just dumb? Tough shit, find a new firm."

Nice win for Ms. Rios ("America"? Oh, Renton...) and Mr. Lam. Back in 2010 I won a hostile work environment case against my employer (no names but they're the oldest and largest dental services and health insurance provider in the Pacific Northwest). It's truly a harrowing experience to deal with this type of shit in the workplace where we spend 70% of our lives, and Ms. Rios' statement says it all: the elation you feel when you're vindicated by the courts and having this all public record is wonderful and worth so much more than the settlement (though $700k+ does come close ).

I'm not sure what this news is doing *here*. It seems out of place in this category and the site as well.

Well the category is law & disorder. but i dont see the tie in to ARS.

Fry's used to be one of those tech Meccas for geeks. It hasn't held that distinction for ages, but that historical curiosity brings it under the label of news that the technologist might be interested in.

I don't think I'd ever seen another retail vendor selling single-in-line resistor packages for terminating SCSI drives. Even back in the mid-late-90s when I needed them, that was pretty esoteric to be able to find even semi-locally. Picked up some jumpers, too. (USB and eSATA sure make things easy!) Haven't been to one since about 2002, though.

Great... can we get at least one electronics retailer that doesn't suck, and isn't scummy? Apparently not.

My experiences with MicroCenter have been pretty good to date. YMMV, as always.

The local Fry's is weird. They must make more money off the coffee shop they built in the center of it, because the rest of the store is a mess, a 1/8th block of floor space has been empty for years, but the coffee shop is immaculate.

Giving one example of just total BS line (besides the one above). During the hiring process they stated the people at the door are there to check to make sure the customer didn't leave something at the register and was there primarily for that. Okay ...this is just crap and they knew it. I talked to the person who said this after the "class" and stated "You know you just insulted the intelligence of everyone in the room. It would just be easier stating that you care about losing money and that lost money is something everyone employed should worry about".

While it is a BS line, Fry's are trying to cover their ass because "receipt checking" is on dubious legal grounds. More specifically, while a store can ask you to voluntarily show your receipt, they probably can't force you to show the receipt, or detain you if you don't show the receipt.

This has been going on at both small and large electronics stores for some time. Replace knowledgeable higher paid or commissioned staff with minimum wage 16 to 18 year old kids. Remember when Circuit City was around? Remember when they did this? It went from a store I'd shop at to one I avoided. I've never liked Gamestop or EB (don't have Frys here).

At least the victims were eventually vindicated with a nice judgment. Nothing like a nice case of sexual harassment at your first real job to boost your confidence in your fellow man.

The look of the Fry's stores around me in the LA area changed dramatically a few years ago. For the longest time, the seriously politically incorrect but kind of accurate Fry's Electronics Employment Application helped me deal with the rare time that I was forced to talk to someone there. I also occasionally messed with them when I got bored, starting off asking simple questions and then asking more and more detailed questions until they got confused and wandered off.

Starting a few years ago, though, they seemed to have modernized somewhat. Gone was the Netware 3.x (or maybe it was 2.x) store network when 5.0 was current. The store's lookup system was much faster. Layouts improved, people not of South Asian descent started appearing amongst the employees (women even appeared, sometimes even as something other than a cashier), and a lot of the thick, almost unintelligible accents disappeared. I figured that a major change was in place with new hiring practices. The embezzlement and stories like this, though, make me think that whatever the change was, it wasn't serious.

It's still a handy place to go when I need a random piece of equipment right now. But even those times are getting less common. I live less than a mile from one and I step in maybe once every 2-3 months, and then I only buy something about half the time. The last time I was going to buy something, it was a lamp for my TV that I hope would solve a screen blanking problem but I wasn't sure. When they told me that they didn't allow returns on lamps and came up with a really lame reason for it, I left the lamp with the cashier and walked out, purchasing it from Amazon for $40 less though I had to wait through the weekend to get it. Since I'm close to one of Newegg's distribution centers and have Amazon Prime, I rarely find myself that pressed to get something. Stories like this may well push me to not bother anymore.

While it is a BS line, Fry's are trying to cover their ass because "receipt checking" is on dubious legal grounds. More specifically, while a store can ask you to voluntarily show your receipt, they probably can't force you to show the receipt, or detain you if you don't show the receipt.

A friend once asked a receipt checker (while she was checking his purchase) what would happen if he just walked past. She told him, "Nothing." Since that day, I have frequently walked past (when I was still buying there much) if anyone is in line for it. No one has ever said a thing.

Great... can we get at least one electronics retailer that doesn't suck, and isn't scummy? Apparently not.

Probably has something to do with them hiring geeks. Yes, there are some of us who are sweet, kind, and socially adept, but let's face it: most geeks are socially inept at best.

Bullshit. The geeks are the ones who get picked on up there. They asshole shark salesmen are the ones who make it to management and it shows. I had to endure employment there one time and I would rather scrap dead bodies off the pavement with my fingernails than work or shop there. I've never seen a company with more contempt for it's employees and such deceptive practices used on its shoppers. That company, god bless the nice guys that work there, can go burn in hell.

This is my local Fry's. Both because of that, and because I work in the legal department of another retailer, I've been watching this case. Simply put: Good, and fuck Fry's.

Fry's, without a doubt, purposefully destroyed evidence, and purposefully withheld information that there had been a pattern of sexual harassment at that store. I don't know if that happened at the store level, the HR department level, or God forbid, within the Legal department itself, but doing something like that rightfully causes a judge to nail you to the wall. I'm glad they got both the fine for doing it, and decided to settle. Although it's always annoying when they settle and get to admit to no wrongdoing. I would really hope that they cleaned house at the store management level, and fired anyone responsible for the "oops, we deleted vital evidence and didn't report other evidence" incident.

I haven't been in that store for maybe 5 years. Ever since I tried to buy a camcorder, but sat in the middle of the camera section by myself while the teenage staff chatted amongst themselves around the perimeter for 5 minutes. At least they used to have good prices. But a 5 minute Google search finds me a bunch of other places offering a better price. And with this sort of an incident on their record now, I've got no desire to ever step foot in there again.

Fuck you Fry's. Fuck you very much.

Apparently you are my neighbor, somewhere. I'm up the hill off Sunset.

That said, when I heard about this case I stopped shopping there. Newegg is usually cheaper and I don't have to worry about thier ethics.

"A friend once asked a receipt checker (while she was checking his purchase) what would happen if he just walked past. She told him, "Nothing." Since that day, I have frequently walked past (when I was still buying there much) if anyone is in line for it. No one has ever said a thing."

Problem with that though is when you get someone who thinks they have the right to check your receipt (or just wants to be a pain in the ass). Having worked there ...I had to constantly remind those folks at the door of their own teachings....you can't make them show a receipt. One instance is where the employee actually grabbed the customer arms to pull the receipt out of the hand. Customer called the Police.

It's not any official policy that employees are taught but Lost Prevention people are certainly taught they do have a "power" over the customer and that's what will eventually will come out.

Great... can we get at least one electronics retailer that doesn't suck, and isn't scummy? Apparently not.

I've heard some great things about Micro Center. Too bad the closest one to me is in Long Island and I'm in WNY.

The MicroCenter in my home town was sketchy enough *before* the salesperson who "helped" me find some ethernet cables asked me if he could take my picture in the check-out line to prove to his boss he had actually done something that day at work.

If I want to avoid poor service, I shop on Amazon. If I need something immediately, I'll go to the fry's (only because it's five minutes away from where I live now) and ask them for the amazon price.

To the person who said "only store that sells resistors"…. That is nice in theory but in reality they probably have two kinds, both mixed together on the same peg sitting next to several dozen empty pegs that with labels indicating the resistors you actually needed.

Seriously, the Renton store is a mess. It is one of those store that fool you into thinking they will have exactly what you wanted ("they are so big so they must stock *everything*") only in actuallity they stock like two of the something kind of like what you wanted but not quite. A store full of nothing. Why bother when you can just get it from newegg or amazon prime?

Holy crap! The legal system worked in the favor of actual people and not a corporation? I am shocked!

It's pretty awesome that both the wronged parties got restitution in this case and even more awesome that there was a mid-level manager willing to put his ass on the line for one of his underlings. You don't see that a lot in American business. Kudos.

This is nothing new. All retail sales in brick-and-mortat stores is falling off. Much more pressure is being put on management and thus the sales people. Companies find excuses to reduce personnel. My wife worked for a home improvement retailer for many years, and was awarded many prizes for sales excellence. When it came time to reduce staff, they dreamed up a fake excuse so she was fired for "cause", rather than laid off, so they wouldn't have to pay for unemployment. This has happened repeatedly at her store and many others. Signs of the times.

Great... can we get at least one electronics retailer that doesn't suck, and isn't scummy? Apparently not.

I've heard some great things about Micro Center. Too bad the closest one to me is in Long Island and I'm in WNY.

Nice enough place. They often have great prices on motherboard/CPU bundles.

I'll second this. The prices are pretty good. Plus, the employes tend to assume that you might just know what you're doing, but are still available and helpful if you do have a question or two.

On the downside, the one near me is located next to a General Mills cereal plant separated by train tracks in an industrial part of town, and the inside looks like it hasn't seen a renovation (or even a new coat of paint) since 1988. But, cheap rent = low prices.

Ka Lam was my boss at this time and I worked with America Rios also. I was a selling car stereos. No one was ever given the reason why Ka quit. (Yes we were told he quit) But I can attest to the depravity of this company first hand.

We were forced to work over time that was not scheduled, some was not paid for (we were required to clock out and then wait inside the building, while the store was locked up which could take half an hour or more. We were not allowed to leave until security finished. I even had words with Ka about keeping me in the store and not letting me leave).

Fry's treats its employees like garbage and punishes them if for being truthful to customers. If you did not know, store #30 has competitions with other stores to see who can get the most Fry's cards applications. They will punish employees if they don't get some ridicules number of people to applying for this 30% interest credit card. It was so bad, that employees were asking other employees to sign up for a card. The customer did not have to get the card just have their credit checked. (can anyone say data mining) I even was told by the store manager. "Sorry if someone wants to disrupt your sale to sell a FRY's card well that's just the way it goes."

I finally left. and the funny thing was that i gave my two weeks’ notice like a professorial and a week before I was going to leave they fired me with a bunch of trumped up reasons like taking a sick day. (and it was the d-bag of a GM the signed off on me getting fired.)

This company is run by horrible people and everyone in the top management needs to get shit canned. That includes Randy Fry himself the shit bag CEO.